John of John by Douglas Stuart

Tuesday, June 30, 2026--San Antonio

I have read all 3 novels written by Douglas Stuuart including this, his latest, John of John.  All 3 have been very good books and each one has been different from the rest.  This one is set in a remote Scottish Island-- mostly in a corner of the island where only about 25 people still live.  Many homes have been abandoned over the years as people have moved away or died, but they are popular with tourists who buy them to use as vacation homes.  Almost everyone living full time in the community belongs to a pentacostal-type Presbyterian church that operates a lot like a cult.  It even has a curtain down the center of the sanctuary, and only those who have dedicated their lives to Christ can sit in the front portion.  Those who have not yet given their lives to Christ and, therefore, not been baptised must sit behind the curtain.  That cult-like us/them situation goes beyond the church, though.  The community leaders (all of whom are members of the church, work to influence those in the community to make the "right" decisions.  (It all works just like the Southern Baptist Church in my hometown worked to try to control everything related to everyone.)  John, the first of the title characters who goes by an abbreviation, Cal, of his middle name since his father uses John (and is the second of the Johns in the title), has left the village to attend an art school which was okayed only because it dealt with "proper" types of art like weaving which most of the families do in the community as a part of a co-op to sell "authentic" Scottish Island wools.  But Cal doesn't want to go home after finishing his degree because he doesn't fit in right there and knows that returning would involve his family and the community in trying to manage his life--have him carrying on the sheep farm with and after his father, helping take care of his aging grandmother, and marrying the woman his age who has been friends with him for years, etc.  It would be a trap.  But the "good" members of the church group have no problems trying to manipulate and force everyone into doing what they want them to do (also like my own church was).  The story involves Cal returning and facing all of these problems while rebelling against them to the extent that he can.  His mother left his father years ago and is living with his uncle (his father's brother) with whom she has several more children who are his half-siblings.  The father has never re-married, so he wants his son to take over the farm.  The whole community wants him to marry the girl who has been his friend for years.  But there are many secrets behind the stories of everyone and more developing as time passes.  It's a book that is fascinating to read and will make you feel like you have been there observing it all.  I gave the book 5 stars out of 5.

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

Wednesday, June 24, 2026--San Antonio

I read Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shlby Van Pelt only because I had 4 books on hold I was waiting to receive and had had finished one I had been reading.  This book became immediately available due to the library having a no-holds-weekend for everyone interested.  Although the story is interesting, I found it to be a rather soppy one and one which is overly filled with coincidences of missed/interrupted moments of communication that were critical points.  I have Netflix and had avoided watching the movie version of the book because I wasn't sure if it would be worthshile.  I won't see it now since I have read the book which I will not recommend to anyone who prefers well-written literature.  Main points:  1)  Elderly widow has no living relatives: husband died a couple of years ago, estranged brother just died, and her only son disappeared at sea at 18 years old.  2)  She works as a janitor at the local aquarium cleaning it after closing time in the evenings while "talking" to the various sea creatures.  3)  Young man was left by his mother at 7 years of age to live with his aunt and, although very intelligent, has been fired from jobs over and over again.  4)  After looking through a school yearbook, he becomes convinced that a man who is in several class photos there must be his father--a man who is now a very wealthy developer.  5)  He moves back to the town in Washington where his mother grew up trying to get an appointment to meet his "dad" and ask him to pay him the child support that was never received as he was growing up.  From there, it becomes a comedy of errors with several side stories along the way.  I gave the book 3 1/2 stars out of 5.

Whistler by Ann Parchett

Monday, June 22, 2026--San Antonio

Whistler by Ann Parchett is a slow-reveal novel that is one of the big hits of 2026.  It centers around an accident that took place about 40 years earlier and the effect it had on the lives of the members of the family of the two persons in the accident at that time and what happened to all the members of the family over time since then.  It also deals with the one of the common complications of family life back in the 70s and 80s--about how two gay men married women to try to "hide" their secret from society that wouldn't accept them as they were and the effects on them and others because of it.  It deals with two sisters who didn't feel totally accepted and integrated in the new family their mother created with a new husband and the two sons they had in that family.  It deals with how that distance between those two sisters and their family created a type of independence that in the long run protected them emotionally in various ways in life.  It deals with the loss that is felt when a beloved person disappears from one's life and how that siutation is handled.  It deals with the bravery and intelligence of a girl of only 7 years old who is confronted with a live-or-death situation.  It deals with wondering how one's life might have been different given a change in circumstances in the past.  It deals with the difficulties of being in love, but needing more in life.  And it deals with what happens when a loved one dies.  It deals with storytelling and the publishing of stories.  I gave the book 4 1/2 stars out of 5.

Star Shipped by Cat Sebastian

Saturday, June 20, 2026--San Antonio

Star Shipped by Cat Sebastian was just the book I needed this week--a well written book among the short list of the top books of 2026 so far by the NY Times and one filled with hillarious banter that kept me laughing aloud.  It was so good that I started limiting how much I would read each day so the book would last longer.  It's the story of the two main stars of a 7-year-long-running series set in space.  The stars seem to hate each other and have been carrying on with bitchy bantering for the run of the show.  One of the actors is from a very wealthy family and suffers from anxiety and OCD.  The other had an alcoholic mother who left him and he ended up living in foster homes.  He suffers from a sense of abandonment and a fear of not ever being loved enough.  As the anxious character approaches the end of the season (intending to leave it to try to revive an award-winning serious career that he had before), he begins to realize that he will miss his co-star he has had so many intimate scenes with over the years.  The book covers the summer break between the 7th and the 8th (upcoming) season.  The characters find themselves interacting more and more together. And the reactions of the fans of the show on social media add a special (funny) spice to the story.  I'll leave the deatils to the readers.  I gave the book 5 stars out of 5 (agreeing with the NY Times).

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

Monday, June 15, 2026--San Antonio

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke has been among the most popular books of this year.  I read it only because it became available in unlimited supply from my library for one weekend--a download to my Kindle.  I cannot say that it was a pleasure to read it.  Why?  Because ALL of the characters except for Maeve, the delightful, happy, youngest daughter, were despicable people.  And my question is:  How can anyone find pleasure reading a story filled with such people?  The main protagonist is a woman who has grown up poor in a home with no father but has gotten a full-ride scholarship to Harvard.  She is a fundamentalist Christian, so being at Harvard is a challenge socially.  She meets and marries a man who has grown up in a wealthy family with national political ties.  Yet her husband is the youngest and the weekest of the sons in his family--spoiled rotten without any interest in applying himself to any type of real world task.  Because of this, the woman decides she must be the one to make their life work.  But problems develop and multiply.  She has to keep her husband happy by keeping him thinking he is as important to the endeavor as she is.  Her personality is mostly grim and demanding of others, so to be the social influencer she is becoming she must provide a false impression of her real self.  This book has all of the problems of the present times--corrupt politics, talk of a coming civil war, envy, jealousy, lying, cheating, broadcasts and social media "spinning" stories, etc.  I waded through the book to the end.  If I rate it on how pleasurable it was to read it, I would have to give it no more than 2 1/2 stars out of 5.  But this unpleasureable book was well constructed, so I will give it an overall rating of 3 1/2 stars out of 5.

Taiwan Travelogue by Thuang-Zi Wang, Translated by Lin King

Thursday, June 11, 2026--San Antonio

Taiwan Travelogue by Thuang-Zi Wang and translated by Lin King is a book with an interesting history.  It is based on a year of traveling and speaking in Taiwan in 1939  when it was a Japanese territory and the original author, a Japanese mainland woman kept detail journals of her experiences.  It was first published in the 1950s.  It has had several publications over the years which have been in Japanese, Mandarin, and now in English.  The English version won the National Book Award last year for best translated literature and it won the Booker International Prize this year.  Because it was based on the journals and because the author of those was fascinated by trying local foods, there are lots of details related to multiple-course meals included--so many that I started rushing through them.  The main story is about the slowly developing relationship between the Japanese mainland author and her assigned island-born Japanese female translator and guide of the same age and how the cultural structure of how Japanese people must interact and respond to each other in general and also between class levels created problems with acceptance and understanding between the two women.  There are many footnotes to explain types of foods and name differences between Mandarin and Japanese and between place names of the time and those of today so the reader can better follow the story if they want to go to a present-day map or have been to Taiwan and traveled around the country as I have done.  I enjoyed the story, but my rating is 3 1/2 stars out of 5 because of so many food details that take up maybe 30% or more of the text.

The News from Dublin by Colm Toibin

Wednesday, June 3, 2026--San Antonio

The News from Dublin by Colm Toibin is a collection of short stories that was just recently published.  I have read novels by him previously.  As usual, his writing is wonderful. Although the author is Irish (and lives in the USA), his stories in this collection take place in various locations in the world and represent different points in time.  The biggest problem I had was that I had not realized it was a collection of short stories.  So as I read the first, then the second, and moved to the third, I kept trying to figure out how those "chapters" were all going to eventually fit together.  But I double-checked and realized that each was its own short story.  I gave this collection a rating of 4 1/2 stars out of 5.